Stung by suicide attempts on tracks, Kolkata Metro steps up campaign to avert such incidents

Kolkata: Metro Railway Kolkata authorities have decided to step up the 'anti-suicide' campaign urging passengers not to take any extreme and drastic step to end their lives by putting up posters and asking commuters not to move perilously close to the edge of the platform.

The decision follows the death of a person at Chandni Chowk station on January 6 which disrupted train services in the Dakshineswar-New Garia corridor (Blue line) for over two hours, inconveniencing thousands of commuters.

A Metro Railway Kolkata official told PTI, "We are intensifying the 'anti-suicide' campaign on this Dakshineswar-New Garia corridor by putting colourful banners on the trackside walls of different stations. The banners are strategically placed in such a way that people can easily see them from the platforms, We have also increased the frequency of the announcement on the public address system in the platforms calling upon people not to go near the edge of the platform and cross the yellow line."

"It is not possible to read what goes on within the mind of an individual, who might be one among the lakhs of other commuters overwhelmed by suicidal instincts. But our men and the security force personnel manning the platforms and other parts of the station remain alert to spot any abhorrent conduct by anyone roaming on the platform," he said.

Also, the station master's room at every single station in the corridor and the central control at Metro Bhavan headquarters are scanning the movement of commuters through CCTV and passing on alert messages to the security personnel on duty if any commuter's movement causes concern, he said.

To a question, the official said putting up glass barriers between the Metro track and the platform is not feasible in the Blue Line stretch, which is the oldest corridor of Metro Railways Kolkata and also in the country and the length of such glass barriers would not uniformly match with the Metro rakes of different companies - from Dalian to ICF.

In other recently built metro corridors of the city - orange, green or purple lines - the glass doors have been customised with the length of the platform, the gaps and the length of rakes and integrated with the overall design of the station and hence there is little chance of someone moving near the edge of the platform before the train arrives, he elaborated. "However we have put up posters in English and Bengali in different stations carrying messages which read 'Think Twice Before You End All' and 'You Have Your Family Members Waiting At Home, Think About Them' to act as a last-minute deterrent before committing suicide. Some of our staff, who have skills in counselling, are also at hand in different stations to cajole, pacify and coax any commuter struck by depression," he said.

The Metro official said they did not have any official figure about the number of suicidal bids on Metro tracks in recent times or in all these years.